The Joint Commission 2008 National Patient Safety Goals

From the Joint Commission's press release:

Major changes in this sixth annual issuance of National Patient Safety Goals include a new Requirement to take specific actions to reduce the risks of patient harm associated with the use of anticoagulant therapy, and a new Goal and Requirement that address the recognition of, and response to unexpected deterioration in a patient’s condition. The new anticoagulant therapy Requirement addresses a widely-acknowledged patient safety problem and becomes a key element of the Goal: Improve the safety of using medications. It is applicable to hospitals, critical access hospitals, ambulatory care and office-based surgery settings, and home care and long term care organizations. The new Goal and Requirement respecting the deteriorating patient will ask hospitals and critical access hospitals to select a suitable method for enabling care-givers to directly request and obtain assistance from a specially-trained individual(s) if and when a patient’s condition worsens. Each of the foregoing new Requirements has a one-year phase-in period that includes defined milestones. Full implementation is targeted for January 2009.

Click here to read the press release; click here to access the 2008 National Patient Safety Goals.